Riello Burner RDB won't start

I thought (hoped) they might not charge for the second pump & labour as I would have thought it should be routine (for a plumber) to check the oil feed if a tank has run dry and existing boiler pump gets knackered trying to resume delivery after this? Or am I wrong to think this would have been sensible / routine?

Possibly, but it's also routine to check your oil level and not run out. In any case I'd expect clearing and disposing of 60 litres of oil a far bigger job than supplying & fitting another pump.

In short they should've cleared the oil sediment. After doing so billed you accordingly for the extra work involved.
 
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blancy";p="1818186 said:
An update:


What I find odd is that you needed another pump after the new one had only been running for half an hour or so. I would have thought that all that would have been necessary was to clean the pump filter as if the pump had starved of oil the burner would have gone to lockout. :confused: :confused: :?: :?:

spraggo
 
The Company have completely fekked up they should not chare you a penny for the new pump or fitting, as you have flushed the debris from the fuel line they cannot charge you for that either!! don't pay them a penny for the 2nd pump parts or labour .. however getting a plumber to attend to a boiler is foolhardy.. plumbing and combustion engineering are as diffrent as chalk & cheese, you wouldn't want me insdtalling a bathroom for you as it would look pants same goes for boiler repair get a specialist boiler engineer to look after your boiler in future and good luck with your dispute .. stick to your guns!! ;)
 
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Thanks for the replies. Good to know I'm not being completely unreasonable :)

The first new pump was locked solid after it's half hour of operation. He took it away. Maybe it was rescueable I wouldn't know really.
 
Agree with Boilerman2's post whole heartedly.
You paid for the pump so he shouldn't have taken your property! He's probably returned it under warranty.
 
I've had to turn the pesky thing off now!

Neighbour asked if I had heating problems. I said not that I know of and he pointed up to my roof where the flue stops and all the paintowrk on the wall around it is coated in black (soot maybe?) and the roof above it. It might also explain all these odd black particles that have been appearing down the side of the flue in the kitchen too. Unburnt fuel?

Neighbour reckons it could catch fire if not sorted! (sigh! :unsure:)

I've never had this particular issue before so not sure if it is linked to something not right as a result of my recent problems, or something to do with the weather (snow so bad we've been stranded for a few days), or something entirely unrelated.


As before, if any of you knowledgeable folk could offer any idea as to what the problem could be related to that would rock :)

(Recent problems left me with a new pump and a new jet, and a little water in my oil)
 
Has your burner got that horrible hydraulic jack that opens the air door?
Is the air door open when the burner is lit?
John :)
 
Ive come across this before, and quite a few times too, by inexperienced plumbers who have little idea of the problem. I guess your plumber wasnt oftec registered then.

A quick pump change and not bothering about checking to see if there is any water in the tank.. {oil floats on water} so the water gets sucked through and the pump seizes up. You get this gunky brown stuff, a mixture of Kerosene, rust and water.

Ive been out to jobs like this, first thing I do is dip the tank with water finding paste to see if thats the problem. If it is then the tank gets cleaned out, water drained off or the tank contents removed, tank cleaned and replacement oil put back in. Purge the oil pipe from the tank to the boiler flexi hose. If there problem has been ongoing then its likely the fuel pump will need replacing too.
 
'Plumber' is my term. I'm not sure exactly what the company specialise in but they do a lot of local work, and it's all oil round here. He was registered I believe and was saying how he had had to train up on the oil side of things to cover this area.

Really nice bloke. He did say that really the oil tank needed replacing and lines cleaned out etc. but I did say I just couldn't afford to do that sort of thing right now and just needed to be up and running for the winter as cheap as possible as money's tight so he didn't press those options.

But I'd have been happy to pull litres of oil through before using the new pump if I'd known that was what was needed :(



re the hydraulic flap - I don't know. I certainly don't hear anything hydraulic :)


Can I rule the water contamination out of the soot / black stuff coming out of the flue issue then? (I wonder if it's even coming directly out of the boiler and that's how it's getting into the kitchen!) Thought it might be causing a bit of unburnt fuel possibly
 
Have you any idea what the pump pressure was set to, and what the CO2% was after the job was done?
John :)
 
He did say that really the oil tank needed replacing and lines cleaned out etc. but I did say I just couldn't afford to do that sort of thing right now and just needed to be up and running for the winter as cheap as possible as money's tight so he didn't press those options.

But I'd have been happy to pull litres of oil through before using the new pump if I'd known that was what was needed

If you'd known what was needed?

You've stated he did say lines required cleaning.

I fear the comments you've made above tend to colour your argument.
 
Had you 'pulled' the fuel through with the new pump and the oil was contaminated it would of damaged the replacement pump!

Your plumber; if he is oftec registered and competent, then he will have an Oftec ID card with his photo on it, with his membership number etc.

Basically this all adds up to basic diagnosis of the original fault. :oops:

Had it been done properly in the first place, you wouldnt be on this site :rolleyes:
 
I pulled the oil through by disconnecting the oil feed from the pump and just letting it flow through the line into a container, so don't think the new pump would have been affected.

All a bit of a messy situation now. I feel that if he had checked the quality of what was being fed into the burner then he wouldn't have turned it on and left, therefore why should I pay for a second new pump. Maybe I'll see if we can reach some kind of compromise.

Even more frustrating and hard to pay up knowing that somethign else is wrong with the boiler since this job :(

Thanks for all the opinions etc. though, whichever side they fall on :)
 

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